The Last of Us director Neil Druckmann says that the scenes between Drake and Tenzin in Uncharted 2 hugely inspired how the team would tell the story in The Last of Us, and how they would build Joel and Ellie’s relationship.
“The thing that inspired us the most was when we were making Uncharted 2,” Druckmann told IB Times. “There’s a sequence where Drake meets up with this Sherpa called Tenzin who doesn’t speak English. And you build a relationship with him through gameplay – at the end of it you feel like you’ve built a bond with this guy even though you haven’t understood anything he’s said to you. It was so interesting to us. What if we built an entire game around this concept, of building a relationship through gameplay?”
“We showed at E3 how Ellie jumps on a guy’s back and saves Joel,” Druckmann continued. “So, even through gameplay you’re led to feel like ‘she saved my ass back there, I like having her around.’ And then there are times when you’re walking around and seeing these horrific things, and Ellie sees it in a different way. She says ‘wow, this place is kind of pretty.’
“And it might make you realise that yeah, it kind of is. So, hopefully through narrative – through dialogue and through action – you start forming this bond.”
The Last of Us releases for the PS3 on May 7. Stay tuned for more info.